Help! A dog one

[ILoveCoffee222]

Not so much an AIBU more a What would you do now? (Sorry it's long)

I have a 10 month old puppy. He's fairly big now - size of a small skinny lab, or maybe a sheep dog size. Since we got him I've walked him every day in a local field, usually 2 or 3 times a day as he's a breed that needs a lot of walking/running. It's a field mainly used by fellow dog walkers. We know most of the owners and dogs now that use the field. The field isn't used for livestock or anything. Occasionally we meet the odd older couple with no dog, or someone out for a jog. I've never seen children in the field. There are local kid friendly parks with slides etc.. where families tend to go with small children. This field is more of a walkers field if you know what I mean! Although of course, anyone is welcome to use it. My own children join me occasionally to walk dog.

Anyway, I've tried to be a responsible pet owner. We scoped out the field before getting the pup to see if it would be suitable for walking. Since getting him we've kept him on the lead if we see a fellow dog walker in the distance and dog is on lead, or there's a walker or jogger with no dog. When we have past the dog on lead, or people with no dog, and are a suitable distance away, we let him off the lead to run around again. Or if other dogs are off lead we let my pup play with other dogs if owners are happy with that.

Often times the field is empty and we have it to ourselves, so I let him run free off the lead and put him back on if I spot someone coming in the distance, or when it's time to exit the field. All good. So far no incident.

Today was a bit rainy so we had the whole field to ourselves for a good 45 minutes. Noone else was in sight. Pup was having loads of fun sticking his nose down rabbit holes and chasing pigeons around, and generally amusing himself, catching his ball etc.. nothing unusual.

The field is surrounded by hedges with gaps in which lead off to small trails, or various entrance/exits to surrounding paths. Today pup was sniffing by the hedges (that's where the good scents and rabbit holes are!) when out of nowhere a small child about 3yrs old, and her mum came through a gap in the hedge. My pup was nearby and ran up to child. Child fell (or my pup pushed her in his excitement - hard to tell). Then followed, understandably, loads of uncontrollable screaming and crying from the small child who was probably terrified. Child's mum grabbed her and picked her up in lightening speed and I tried to grab pup but he was so excited by all the screaming and sight of small kid he kept circling them and wouldn't respond to me. After probably a minute (but it felt like hours!) I managed to catch pup and put him on the lead. I apologised profusely to the mum, who understandably looked mighty angry and concerned for her kid and she blanked me and they walked off. I walked in the other direction with my pup on lead

Anyway, it was a total shock to see them. One minute the field was empty, the next minute the child was there and dog was practically on top of her.

I feel terrible as the child was so upset. If mum is reading this now - I'm so sorry. Thing is, I just didn't see them. If I had seen them coming I'd have put pup on the lead straight away.

I don't think I was being unreasonable as it seems like just an unpredictable occurrance and I did my best.

But - now it's happened, what do I do? Carry on as normal, letting him run free when the field is empty? or keep him on the lead on the off chance this could happen again (odds r really small). He's a breed that needs good long walks and to run and run, so I just don't think keeping him on lead would be feasible. But now this has happened once I feel there is no excuse for it to happen again and it would be my fault if it did.

If you were the kids mum, would you be despising me now?

I'm really shaken as I think this kid may now develop a fear of dogs, but I just didn't see them. They just appeared. Shit.

OP - learn to hold a long line like horse owners hold a lunge line, it stops it getting knotted. Plenty of videos on you tube :)

Accidentally knocking the child over was fine. The dog was running around playing, the child was running around playing, it's just an accidental bump. Children cry, that's expected. You apologised. No harm in that.

However... taking a minute to get your dog back under control is hugely unacceptable! Saying that he was excited by the screaming and small child makes it worse. Train your dog to respond to you the first time you call it. If it doesn't respond the first time then it needs to still be on a lead.

There are so many situations that can happen unexpectedly around a dog - children, traffic, other animals, dog theft - you need him to come to you immediately when called.

I once had someone attempt to snatch my dog by offering it meat. Had he not been trained to respond to me first time he would have been taken, as it was, I called his name and he immediately ran back to me. I now have another dog who doesn't respond to being called so he stays on a lead when out.

I would check a field before letting my 3 year old enter it for this very reason and because it could have had livestock in it. She didn't check so is partially to blame.

The child got knocked over in unexpected circumstances. They weren't bitten or hurt. The appropriate response if you don't want your child to develope a fear of dogs is to pick your child up and say 'oh, the puppy wants to play' and act casually.

I think you'll need to be careful, as all dog owners should be, that your dog is not off lead running around with people about until he no longer jumps up when excited. Perhaps find a field that isn't used so much by walkers without dogs.

Instead of treating training as something that's boring, think of it as exercise for your dogs body and mind, that also helps your dog to trust your judgement in in unexpected situations like that. Which gives you more control.
You have a high energy dog and you are not doing him justice.

This sounds like an unfortunate thing and you are clearly conscious rather than one of the 'he's friendly' brigade. But, I would use a long line, and work on recall building up around distractions including children, dogs, and people. The long line is there as a management tool. We have to be mindful of dog law which is that if a dog is seen to be out of control in a public place then it is breaking the law, so just something to be aware of.

No dog has perfect recall. I'd say 97.5% is about realistic. We should keep our eyes out for things that will cause our dog's recall to wobble and put on a lead if there is any doubt.

Your dog's adolescence will last until they are about 2 years and you will have recall wobbles periodically during that time so keep up with training and rewarding coming back. If you have a wobble, go back to basics for that time.

Ignore advice to neuter too early, makes absolutely no difference to training and can actually have negative impacts on behaviour if you neuter too early or inappropriately. I wouldn't neuter until your dog is fully grown and socially mature - circa 2 years old onwards.

Firstly, there's no such thing as perfect recall - anyone who claims their dog has it is a liar Dogs aren't robots and even the most bombproof dog can get distracted or spooked. It happens everyday.

However, having said that, a young, energetic adolescent dog should probably be kept on a long-line - especially now he's experienced the excitement of running around a small child and ignoring you! Unfortunately once they've ignored you once, they're more likely to do it again.

Long lines are a pain in the arse but they're much safer than your dog out of control - as a PP said, all it takes is for your dog to scare someone and you could be subject to a dog control order, so it's always best to err on the side of caution - just in case.

I don't think you did anything wrong in this scenario but see it as a lesson learnt - your dog won't recall from children so now you know that he needs to stay on a long line for the foreseeable future while you work on his recall. Good luck!

I'm trying to understand.

OP's dog (barking, bouncy?, not growling or threatening?) circled a strange child + parent for ~90 seconds & this was entirety of the interaction. Then OP led dog away. There was No contact, no jumping or mouthing or growling. One over excited dog & one child who was probably more upset about falling over than anything else. That's all that happened. Is that right?

Coz honestly it's insane to worry about the situation if that's all that happened.

Is your dog kept on a lead around others and only let off to run around if there’s nobody around? Have you take steps to teach your dog to recall OP? Where is your dog at with recall now?

Are you teaching your dog to pass other dogs/people, without approaching them?

From your post it appears your dog is kept tethered, around others, and allowed to do exactly what he likes when off lead

In a nutshell. You can’t rely on “if I’d seen them”: now you know you won’t always see people approach, and your dog can’t be recalled. So it needs to be on a lead or taken to a dog field.

No dog has perfect recall. These things do happen occasionally.

AIBU is a bad place to post about dogs. So much mass hysteria.

It was exactly this type of incident that means my son is scared of dogs. As with you the owner was very apologetic but the consequences were long lasting. You do need to be able to recall your dog if they are off lead in a public space. It might feel to you like they appeared put of nowhere but I expect they feel the same about your dog.

They should happen once. Then, now you know that your dog can act like that, you should take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

@ILoveCoffee222 Retractable lines really aren't recommended. Longlines are a faff, I agree, but far far safer. They must always be used on a harness though, never a collar.

I've seen some nasty hand injuries from retractables (where the mechanism has failed, the line has run free & owners have grabbed it to prevent dog running into traffic etc), very deep rope burn. I've also sadly seen a case where the dog did run into traffic (former veterinary receptionist).

The trouble is, you can't see the whole line, so you can't see wear and tear. The inner mechanisms can become brittle or damaged over time & fail (& you don't know until they fail, as you can't see them). The retractable lines themselves are usually a lot thinner than longlines, so grabbing the line is likely to do a lot more damage to your hand, and if you drop the retractable the casing bounces along behind the dog making a racket & spooking them (whereas longline can be trailed and stepped on to stop).

Dog owner here.
Unfortunately I agree. If your dogs recall isn’t very solid they can’t be off lead. They could injure someone or themselves.

@TomatoFrog how would kicking the dog while it was excitedly circling have helped anyone, unless you're just looking for an excuse to abuse an animal?

If your child is under attack then of course use whatever means necessary, but kicking a dog that is presenting no threat to your dog is unwise.

This is really interesting- could I possibly ask the age and breed of your dog?

I think it was a one off incident and I would forget about it. They came through unexpectedly and must have startled the dog. All the screaming would have made this a hundred times worse. Maybe try and stick to the middle of the fields and not too close to the edges where people could come through but I really dont think you did anything wrong.

Same. I'd be livid. My child would be distraught. Typical dog nutter entitlement. Leash your dog.

Keep him on a lead in public places even if no one is about. One of mine has 99.9% perfect recall but that other 0.1%… he bolts.
Use a long line (not a flexi/extendable lead, those are fucking awful, and really dangerous as they can fail) so he can have a good run about still.